New Roxas Boulevard seawall to be modern, more durable

MANILA, Philippines - The seawall along Roxas Boulevard in Manila will have a modern and more durable design, built to withstand stronger typhoons, the city’s chief engineer said yesterday.

In a phone interview with The STAR, Armand Andres said based on information he received from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), the lead government agency in rehabilitating the seawall, the design will be “modern” and able to “resist stronger typhoons and floods.” He said the design, which is not being made by the DPWH, will need the approval of the DPWH secretary before construction starts.

He said the foundation of the new seawall will be deeper, and use basically the same materials – but stronger – as the old seawall, which “was built during the 1960s.” He said they do not know yet when the construction of the new seawall, projected to cost P30 million, will begin.

Andres said they will use some of the bricks and tiles from the old seawall to keep construction costs down.

Andres said out of the two kilometers of seawall in Manila – from the Manila Yacht Club to the United States embassy – only 750 meters had been damaged by a storm surge caused by typhoon “Pedring.”

He said they will follow Mayor Alfredo Lim’s suggestion to retain the height of the seawall at 16 inches so tourists can still sit on the seawall and motorists can still see Manila Bay’s sunset view while driving.

Lim said he expects that everything displaced by the storm surge and Pedring’s strong winds will be returned to normal by tomorrow. He said the typhoon uprooted about 100 trees.

Manila public services chief Carlos Baltazar said the 1,500 tons of garbage they collect in the city each day increased by 50 percent following the flood. He said at least four truckloads of trash had been collected from Roxas Boulevard alone yesterday.

The fallen statue of former mayor Arsenio Lacson has been reinstalled and the roofs of the Del Pan complex and the Manila City courts have been fixed, Andres said.

MMDA intensifies cleanup

After clearing Roxas Boulevard of debris left by the storm surge, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has shifted its focus to cleaning up Barangays Tumana and Malanday in Marikina City and repairing the collapsed portions of the Malabon dike.

MMDA chairman Francis Tolentino said about 60 members of the agency’s flood control and sewerage management office were deployed to declog Marikina’s drainage systems. He said Pedring left the Marikina River clogged with garbage and mud.

In Malabon, portions of the Pinagkabalian River dike were repaired by the MMDA and the city government. The breach of the dike caused floods in Barangay Dampalit and nearby areas.

Tolentino said that as a temporary measure, MMDA workers have placed sandbags in the breached portions of the dike. As of press time yesterday, at least 11 of the city’s 21 barangays are still flooded.

In Navotas City, around 1,500 families lost their homes along the shoreline due to the storm surge, but no casualties were reported. – With Mike Frialde, Pete Laude